The Birke Symposium and Appalachian Narratives Notes on Identity held another event in the series called “Speaking of Appalachia,” which featured four poets and two musicians who shared their stories of Appalachia.
“These folks signed up to be part of the event,” assistant professor Tijah Bumgarner said. “They were also people Daniel and I knew, like Nathan is a student and I see him all the time and I’ve known Crystal for years.”
Crystal Good who advocates for the environment in West Virginia through her poetry, Delaney Mclemore a nonfiction and poetry writer, who holds an undergraduate degree in English, KerryErin Coats who is also a musician and a public health advocate and Nathan Thomas, a journalist, filmmaker, writer and comedian read their poetry while Zack Kouns, a performer author, visual artist and filmmaker performed music along with Coats to Huntington community members Tuesday at the Cellar Door.
“I feel like to talk about my experience here in Appalachia I’d have to compare it to something else like an experience in New York or somewhere,” Good said. “I like to talk about what I know and what I’ve seen.”
Dean and Bumgarner said they hoped to do more events like this in the future.
“For future renditions of this event we want to do an open mic night, so anyone with work they want to perform could do that,” assistant professor Tijah Bumgarner said. “But picking the artists worked well this time. We chose people we thought the audience would like but also people we enjoyed listening to, like Nathan and I’m a big fan of his work because I can relate to it.”
All the performers said they had an appreciation for the true Appalachia.
Bumgarner said she wanted to get rid of this stigma of Appalachia just being “Trump country. She wanted to showcase the other sides of Appalachia through different forms of art, so she chose these artists with their similar ideas to perform.
Bumgarner said she was happy with the turn out of the event and felt people responded well to it.
“When you put together something like this it’s really nice when people respond well and enjoy themselves,” Bumgarner said. “It’s great to help people learn and let them have a good time so it’s very rewarding.”
You can get more information on other events in the Appalachian Narratives series at www.speakingofappalachi.org.
Tijah Bumgarner and Daniel Dean would like to give a special thank you to Mrs. Helen Birke and her daughter Julie, whose generosity made The Birke Fine Arts Symposium possible through the Birke Fine Arts Symposium Endowment.
